


Wrong

by PaisleyWraith



Series: Dawn AU [3]
Category: South Park
Genre: Background pairings and characters of Dawn Canon, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 22:45:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14435754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaisleyWraith/pseuds/PaisleyWraith
Summary: Typically, things slowly go back to normal for people after most stories. Tweek doesn't have that luxury and never will again. Craig's not to blame. He's what the blond considers the biggest victim in all this.





	Wrong

Tweek was waiting to go back home. Waiting, it may be a few months. Maybe a year. Kenny had assured them they could stay as long as they wanted, but this wasn’t Tweek’s world.

Things were too bright, here, in the Keep. It reeked of Elves and Humans, he could feel the hate and pain radiating off the cold stone walls. He missed the dark forests filled with crisp air, the absence of sunlight unless you sought it out, the brightness of the moon and the celebrations, hunts, culture of his people.

But he couldn’t go back.

Not yet.

Tweek stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching. Craig was staring out the window at the garden nestled in the courtyard, unmoving. He was wrapped in a scarf and a warm cloak, he often felt too cold even during the warmer days.

“Craig,” He said, and the boy didn’t stir. Tweek sighed, anger and fear clawing at his throat. He walked closer, still over an arm’s length from the boy.

“Craig,” He tried again. “It’s time to eat something.”

He could see his face now, unblinking and impassive. His green-grey eyes were faraway, looking past the courtyards, past the castle walls. His face was still grotesquely thin, eyes sunken into his face.

“Craig,” Tweek grit his teeth against the twitch of his shoulder.

He couldn’t even move him to the Caverns yet. Not without an escort, and Tweek didn’t want one. He wanted to know Craig would be able to survive what was surely waiting for them once they went back home. If they couldn’t even trek to the Caverns…

“What do you see?” Tweek asked quietly, trying to even his voice. Calm. It’s okay. This just happened sometimes, just talk until he hears you. “Do you miss home? We’ll leave soon. Seethestars again, together.” Breathe. “It’ll be nice to be home again, away from so many people.”

Craig’s brows furrowed slightly, and he blinked, dark lashes shadowing his pallored cheekbones. Slowly, he looked over, flinching before recognition lit his eyes.

Now safe, Tweek moved to sit next to him at the windowsill. He flipped the end of his scarf back over his shoulder, tenderly brushing his fingers over his cheek.

Craig closed his eyes, and Tweek cupped his cheek a little more forcefully, smiling crookedly as Craig leaned into his hand. He smoothed his thumb over his cheek, catching the weary smile on the ex-thief’s face.

Craig had always been a softhearted soul, despite his reputation, but he had never been like this. Quiet, almost silent, distanced from everyone and even reality itself. Craig didn’t talk to anyone, not often. He spoke to Kyle, sometimes, and Tweek. Not really anyone else.

Tweek knew that hurt Clyde. But he also knew the boy understood. Understood by the watery, wobbly smile he gave Craig before he left with Butters for the Caverns, the fact he shook Craig’s hand instead of forced a hug on him.

And the fact he hugged Tweek instead, concealing tears as he asked him to take care of his old friend.

Tweek decided he liked Clyde. Very much.

Barbarians used to be able to give curses, place blessings, see destinies. Somewhere along the lines that got lost, or else Tweek’s line hadn’t been apt for that, but he pressed a blessing onto the two boy’s shoulders regardless.

If either boy ever tried to trek through their forest, or more likely they went together, now that their destinies were intertwined, they’d find their way to Tweek and Craig. Safely, with no troubles as long as Tweek held dominion over the forest spirits.

He didn’t even allow such a thing for Kyle or Kenny. The two boys were special.

And anyway, he still owed Leopold Stotch a life-debt. One he could collect for any reason, any time, any favor.

Tweek sometimes wondered if he would at all. He was adamant that Tweek owed him nothing, that he was merely being a Good Person, but graciously accepted the offer when he realized it was part of his culture.

He might be slow on the uptake sometimes, but no one could deny Paladin Stotch’s heart.

Of course, this was all dependent on whether they made it back home. Craig knew he was in no condition to fight. He never outright said anything, but sometimes they didn’t have to in order to communicate the big ideas. It was reality. It was big and gaping and unspoken between them, but they both knew it was there and that they’d have to live with it.

Craig would not live if they left now. He was barely living as it is.

Tweek’s hands fell, palms-up over Craig’s own hands. The boy gently laid his knife next to him and took them, fingers thin and cold in Tweek’s own thin ones. Craig’s eyes were lowered, and he was still so quiet.

He didn’t talk about what happened downstairs. He’d been missing for years and it turned out he’d been imprisoned and tortured. Tweek always thought he’d be able to tell. That their soul bond was heavy enough that he’d be able to tell if he was hurting.

It hadn’t been.

Here he’d assumed Craig was either deep undercover or, as his frantic, paranoid mind focused on, he was still angry.

Angry at Tweek for not understanding. For not realizing that Craig still had people he cared about and wanted to be sure survived. That the old Wizard-King was replaced by someone even worse, and Craig couldn’t let it go. For his family, his parents, his baby sister. One last assassination, then Feldspar would officially retire.

He hadn’t understood. He’d raged with Craig for weeks, which turned into months. Craig was one of theirs, now. He was part of their world, of their culture, nothing else should matter. Tweek could care less if the entire world burned, except for them. But everyone he ever cared about had been under the safety of that forest. He’d never ventured out.

Not until Craig never came home and time had gone on too long. He’d ended up with the Elves, trying to find his location in return for help with the Wizard. Looking for Craig, knowing that abandoning his throne meant a bloody takeover whenever he next arrived, Tweek had started to become hopeless.

If he’d never ventured out, if he didn’t befriend Kyle, if he didn’t like Kenny enough to search the dungeons, he would never have found Craig, and Craig would be dead. If Butters hadn’t betrayed his home, if he hadn’t been an adept healer, if they’d been a week later Craig would no longer be on their earth.

That, he would have felt.

But now, how ironic. That it started with Tweek wanting to keep Craig, with him wishing he’d pick this life over his old one, and now he had Craig.

Craig showed little to no interest in anything, keeping close to people he knew and falling into daydreams away from reality. He didn’t like being approached and refused to even eat dinner around people, finding it nerve-wracking.

No one understood this more than Tweek, but this still wasn’t like Craig. To more or less ignore his friends, the world, he rarely spoke and only to a handful of people. Tweek had Craig again, and all Craig wanted was to go home.

There wasn’t any sweetness, just bitterness.

If Kyle thought Tweek was going to let the Wizard live, he had another thing coming. Tweek appreciated the Elf, would not openly disagree, but he more than once debated talking to Kenny and letting her know Cartman’s days would be numbered. Once Tweek had his throne back, he was going to send whatever betrayers survived on a mission, one they could redeem themselves for.

Proof that the ex Wizard-King was dead.

You did not hurt Craig. You didn’t take Craig away from himself and live. He wasn’t ever, ever going to be the same and while Tweek would stand by his side forever, that wasn’t fair to Craig.

He’d told no one, but he knew he wouldn’t be the only person celebrating once it happened.

Tweek’s mismatched eyes flit to the window, seeing the Princess walk outside with her husband, discussing something serious by the look on her normally jovial face. Kyle’s arm was around her, he was speaking animatedly, and Tweek was glad. Glad that they found some kind of happy ending in all of this, when Kenny had reason to be just as miserable as Tweek. They lost the most out of this.

“Everyone’s just fucked, aren’t they, Sweetheart?” Craig murmured, following Tweek’s gaze.

Tweek jerked, glancing over at the dark-haired man. The boy had his jaw clenched, wasn’t looking at the two anymore. He watched the boy in profile, the afternoon light enhancing every hollow shadow of his face. Hopeless. Just a taste of what Craig was feeling, what even with a soul bond Tweek could never really understand. Another twitch of his arm, one Craig didn’t even notice, and that at least he could be glad for.

“We’re not, so don’t get all philosophical on me now,” Tweek snapped, startling Craig back to focus. Those green-grey eyes settled, resolutely.

“What?” Craig said, the hint of annoyance proving Tweek’s suspicion that he hadn’t actually thought about his words.

“We’re not fucked,” Tweek lied, eyes sparking with life. “You’re just bored.”

_That_ made Craig smile, and Tweek felt an odd sort of elation. He gently squeezed Tweek’s hands, the smile staying as he looked down.

“Yeah,” He said, “I’d rather be home. But,” He raised a hand, watching it tremble just with the effort. The fight with Cartman had almost killed him, and yes, Tweek would be damned if he’d nearly kill Craig twice and live. He was pushed too hard. Tweek wouldn’t let it happen again.

Tweek reached for his hand again, the slight twitch of his fingers paling in comparison. Craig’s tremors eased, though, in Tweek’s slim and bony hands, and the Barbarian spoke quietly in the language it had taken Craig ages to finally learn.

“You’ve been steadying me for years,” He said, fire lighting every word. “It’s just my turn, now.”

Craig exhaled, a slight curve of his mouth in a smile. He looked back up at Tweek, looking him over. Taking him in. The same reverent, steady look he’d given the stars of their home.

“I love you,” He promised, closing his eyes again and shutting off that glimpse Tweek got of who he was.

Back to shadowed cheeks and deadly pale skin. But Tweek merely reached for his face again, making himself another promise.

“We’re gonna go back home,” Tweek twitched again, violently, and that one Craig noticed. He rested a hand on the shoulder, listening. “We’ll kill anyone who dares try to fight. Tell the others to fuck themselves. We’re gonna go back. Just be bored a little longer.”

Rest a little more. A lot more. He was estimating at least another year before he could return.

He would not leave without Craig.

“I love you,” Tweek said, making greenish eyes flit back once more. “And we’re going to make it. Just trust me a little more.”

“I only trust you,” Craig muttered, and Tweek’s heart broke all the more.

He had Craig to himself. He felt robbed.

Craig was robbed.

“I love you,” Tweek said again. He’d never said it enough and there were several points he almost never would again. “I love you, Craig.”

“Love you too, Honey,” Craig leaned forward, pressing his forehead to Tweek’s. The blond reached for him, and somehow they ended up snuggling on the windowsill, knife forgotten.

“I’m sorr-” The dreaded words almost left Craig’s mouth, but Tweek still refused to hear them.

“Don’t you…even dare,” Tweek twitched, trying to slow his speech. “I’ll kickyourmotherFUCKINGass.”

Craig’s body jerked as he snorted. “Right.”

“We’re gonna be fine,” Tweek said again, pressing his cheek against Craig’s hair as he watched the sun shine down over the courtyard. He had no idea if they were going to be fine. “It’ll be fine.”


End file.
